Today, various electronic devices have been developed to provide user-friendly interfaces for facilitating easy and quick user interaction. Examples of such electronic devices include, but are not limited to, smart phones, Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), phablet computers, tablet computers, Ultra-Mobile Personal Computers (UMPCs), Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), web pads, handheld Personal Computers (PCs), laptop computers, interactive entertainment computers, and gaming terminals. Most of these electronic devices include touch-sensitive display screens, which make them more user-friendly and easier to use.
In order to provide entertaining experience to users, various gaming systems may be implemented on such electronic devices. An important aspect of a gaming system implemented on an electronic device is how interesting it is for a user to play a game on the gaming system.
FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D collectively are an illustration of example steps related to playing a puzzle game with a known conventional user interface of a conventional gaming system for implementation on an electronic device; FIGS. 1A-D represent prior art. In the puzzle game, a user's purpose is to organize certain graphical objects, so as to make rows or columns of at least three matching adjacent graphical objects.
FIG. 1A is an illustration of a first step at which the user selects and moves a graphical object 102 towards another graphical object 104. Consequently, spatial positions of the graphical objects 102 and 104 are exchanged, as shown in FIG. 1B.
As a result, three adjacent graphical objects match with each other, as indicated with a horizontal row 106. For sake of clarity, the horizontal row 106 is indicated with a box in FIG. 1B.
FIG. 1C is an illustration of a step at which the horizontal row 106 disappears, thereby leaving an empty space 108.
FIG. 1D is an illustration of a next step at which graphical objects above the horizontal row 106 drop down to fill the empty space 108, and a set 110 of three new random graphical objects appears to fill the puzzle.
As a result of dropping down of the graphical objects, a new horizontal row 112 of three matching adjacent graphical objects is formed. For sake of clarity, the horizontal row 112 is indicated with a box in FIG. 1D.
At a subsequent step, the horizontal row 112 will disappear and will be replaced.
A problem with the above puzzle game is that the user can make only one move of his choice before the matching adjacent graphical objects disappear. This potentially makes the puzzle game less interesting to the user.